A Tale of Two Head Joints

     

Since I’ve started playing again, I joined the Flute Forum Facebook group. I love reading all of the posts about actual flutes on Flute Forum. Someone mentioned a gold riser in a post and I suddenly remembered - I have a gold riser. Or at least, I used to.

I play on a Miyazawa 401 heavy wall flute. I loved my Miyazawa when I got it in 2002 as a high schooler. I could feel the super fast action as I burned through scales faster now than ever before. I was so privileged to play on such a professional instrument and so privileged to be from a family that could afford to pay for a professional-level flute for a teenager. My Miyazawa also had a gold riser on the head joint.

After a couple years, I wanted to change my sound. I was in music school by then and playing extremely well, but, from what I remember I wanted my sound to be bigger and darker. Also there was peer pressure. My flute was sterling silver but many of my peers were playing on gold or aurumite flutes. I couldn’t keep up. There was no way I could afford a new flute so I got a new head joint. A sterling silver Powell P-cut. Then I graduated, stopped playing, started playing again, joined the Flute Forum Facebook group and was reminded of my old head joint. I decided to put my original flute back together.

My Powell head joint was adjusted to fit my flute but I couldn’t remember if my flute itself was adjusted too. So I was a bit nervous to slide the original head joint back in. Will it work? Will I even be able to hear a difference between head joints? My nerves were silenced when I took out my old head joint and had to deal with a more pressing problem than assembly: TARNISH! My old head joint had been stored in a box lined with foam. This is what my Powell head joint was shipped to me in. This box was clearly not meant for long-term storage - I can’t believe I didn’t think about that! Despite the tarnish, the head joint fits and it still sounds great.

My Miyazawa head joint is easier to play and requires less work from me, however, it doesn’t get the same deep, dark sound in the low notes. This is consistent with my memory: I wanted a deeper, darker sound and my Powell head joint achieved it. My Miyazawa is easier to play; it makes hitting the high notes a breeze but doesn’t give me the full array of tone colors that the Powell head joint gives me.

I’m also not as skilled of a player as I used to be.

    Playing on the Miyazawa is easier and maybe it’s what I need right now. I’ve decided to get my old head joint professionally cleaned and have the cork inspected. THANK YOU Flute Forum group for your excellent suggestions on how to deal with the tarnish! I also bought a real case for my Miyazawa headjoint because I tried to put the head joint back into its original case but it doesn’t fit anymore. I had my flute case altered to fit the Powell head joint too. I actually can believe I forgot that. It’s been 15 years since I bought a new joint and a lot has happened.

Here I am playing my flute with all original parts and loving it!